01. Anarcadia: All Horned Animals (Extended Version)

02. The Gimp/Sometimes

03. Amethyst Deceivers (Version 2)

04. Broccoli (Version 1)

05. Backwards

“Backwards / The Remote Viewer” phase

John Balance – bells on “Anarcadia: All Horned Animals”

Peter Christopherson

Thighpaulsandra

Simon Norris (Ossian Brown) – bells on “Anarcadia: All Horned Animals”

Cliff Stapleton – hurdy-gurdy

Massimo Villani – performer

Pierce Wyss – performer

A lot of interesting new conventions were introduced at this gig. For one, Thighpaulsandra returned to playing with Coil live. Apparently he replaced Mike York just in the nick of time. I’m guessing the rest of the band were getting somewhat tired of the material of this phase by this point, so Thighpaulsandra never played (or learned to play) “Slur,” “A Cold Cell,” “Paranoid Inlay,” or “Sick Mirrors” with the band – the only four songs he ever missed. Instead, Coil would play a tighter set for this show and the next as Peter began constructing a new set of live material. You can hear just how much Thighpaulsandra changed the dynamic of the material.

Massimo and Pierce also rejoined the band and would tour with them all the way through to the end of the “Live Four” phase. Their choreography became much more rehearsed and deliberate, starting with this gig.

Cliff Stapleton applied a new phasing effect to his hurdy-gurdy on “The Gimp/Sometimes” and “Backwards.” 

“Anarcadia,” following its usual 6-minute or so song structure, became extended into a lengthy improvised jam wherein John improvised cryptic lyrics and Thighpaulsandra would re-edit samples picked up from his microphone – the first of only two times this happened. Midway through said jam, John starts singing “Sometimes, I hate myself,” amongst other lines, which harken back to the song “The Gimp/Sometimes,” released in August 1999 on the Hate People Like Us compilation. Whether the jam was intended as a version of that song is unclear, but the lyrics would later be reincorporated on the similarly named “The Gimp (Sometimes)” of the “Black Antlers” phase. Make no mistake; in all three iterations, they’re very different songs, but the lyrics all tie them together in most peoples’ minds. The lyrics to this version are as follows:

For most of the jam, Massimo and Pierce held up their arms to distorted mirrors onstage. Must have been difficult, as Pierce is seen panting heavily after the song. The “Dr. Livingstone, I presume” lyric either references the man himself, Dr. David Livingstone, a famous explorer who contributed to the “Scramble for Africa” movement, or the Moody Blues song of the same name.

Before “Amethyst Deceivers,” John says, “Yes, I am needy. Yes, I am greedy. Take me to your leader!” This particular version includes some improvised lyrics from John: “And feed the birds, feed the birds / Only tuppence a bag / You pay the Harridan city by the statue and fountain in the empty financial districts / London’s financial districts fucked / You’re not gonna get much for tuppence, there / They take credit cards, now / Amethyst deceivers are now in the hands of the receivers / So you better wait for a letter through your door, to find out how much you can claim back.” The “tuppence a bag” line is a reference to a song from the movie Mary Poppins, a line which later appeared in some versions of “Black Antlers (Where’s Your Child?).”

Before “Broccoli,” John says, “Thank you, thank you. Can we have a little bit more, uh, rather, a little bit less, uh, sort of bright light on the stage, please? It’s sort of swamping us with yellowness. More moody, more moody, please, so we’ll give you a few moments to arrange that, thank you.” Pause. “This next one is about answer were, ancestor worship, uh…it’s about how I don’t get on with my mother, and I don’t get on with my stepfather. I get on with my father, I don’t get on with my uncles and aunts on one side. I sort of respect them, but pretty scared of them on the other side because they do weird things, but not weird in the way I like. They don’t get wired, and they’re not really weird. They don’t get wired, and they’re not really weird. Wise words, wise words, come from the skies. So take a few moments each day to remember your ancestors. They were why you are here now. Like it or not, and I’m not sure I do, I’m not sure I like it, and I’m not sure I don’t.” This version is notable for both Thighpaulsandra’s synth notes and John’s “You never had!” bridge. At some point during the song, Massimo become covered with fake blood – I’m not sure when or how this happened.

Before “Backwards,” John says, “Thank you, uh…Me and my shadow, me and my shadow, me and my shadow, the black shadow of Cher. Me and my shadow, me and my shadow, me and my shadow, the black shadow of Cher. Me and my shadow, me and my shadow, me and my shadow, the black shadow of Cher. Beware, beware, the black shadow of Cher. Beware, beware, the black shadow of Cher. Oh, it’s electricity pulsating through the voltage, electricity pulsating through the voltage. Gotta go back, you gotta go further back, further back and faster. Anita Pallenburg said to me, ‘You’ve gotta further go back, you’ve gotta go further back and faster. You gotta go further back and faster. In fact, you’ve gotta go, when you’ve gotta go, when you go, when you gotta go, you gotta go backwards. Backwards. Backwards. Yeah, backwards. Backwards. Backwards. Backwards. Backwards.” By far the best version, both visually and aurally. Massimo and Pierce made a show of eyeing each other up throughout the first five minutes of the song, and at a certain point crawled up to each other and started making out, spitting fake blood onto each other, beating each other on the butts like drums, and even giving each other hand jobs. During the first bridge, the two of them crawl onto John and hump his legs incessantly, forcing him to the ground and coating his white suit in the fake blood. Befitting, I’d say, because this is the first version of “Backwards” in performance that makes it about coming to terms with being gay: “I feel loved / But it’s backwards, but it’s backwards, but it’s backwards / I feel loved!” John had sang the “I feel loved” lyric before, but coupled with Massimo and Pierce clinging to him, it makes me think the song was about John’s personal journey throughout his life of coming to terms with being gay, despite being raised in a very conservative/repressive English household.